TBILISI, June 27 – Former prime minister Giorgi Gakharia said Saturday that being in the opposition in Georgia has become a physical safety risk, after a confrontation in parliament on Friday left one of his party colleagues needing medical assistance.
The incident took place during a tense political session in parliament, where Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze was facing criticism from opposition lawmakers.
Gakharia, who now leads the opposition party Gakharia for Georgia, said his party had entered parliament to represent citizens, hold the government accountable and use parliamentary tools to express a different opinion.
He accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of answering that with physical violence.
“Georgian Dream responded to the political opposition with coordinated physical violence,” Gakharia wrote on X.
He said his colleague Giga Parulava needed medical assistance after the incident.
“Today, in Georgia, being in the opposition represents a risk to physical safety,” Gakharia said, adding that the violence was encouraged by impunity enjoyed by people at the highest levels of power.
Another Gakharia party figure, Berdia Sichinava, also blamed Georgian Dream for the events in parliament. He said the incident showed that violence had become systemic and was now an unavoidable mark of the ruling party.
Sichinava claimed that viewers had seen, live on air, a group attack and violence carried out by holders of state and political office in parliament, in the presence of the prosecutor general and the interior minister.
He linked Friday’s events to wider criticism of the government’s response to violence, including a recent case in Gori, where footage of alleged abuse by police drew public attention.
According to Sichinava, the events in parliament destroyed Georgian Dream’s claim that it is fighting hate speech and violence. He said the ruling party cannot tolerate dissent and responds to criticism with repression and force, even inside the country’s main political institution.
He also said the political damage from the incident fell on Prime Minister Kobakhidze and Georgian Dream itself.
Representatives of Gakharia’s party argued that it entered parliament to confront the government through constitutional and parliamentary channels, but now realize that even inside the parliament hall, oppositional activity carries physical danger.
